The lives of George and Amarilla Barclay

George Barclay Purchases Land!

Great grandfather made a critical decision to move his trading post up to the present area of Pine River, Minnesota.

Two years after building his post on the South Branch of the Pine River, George Barclay apparently decided to move and expand his activities. He chose a site on higher, more open ground located next to land currently occupied by the Durkee Manufacturing Company. (Logsleds to Snowmobiles, pg. 104, published 1973).

My Aunt Miriam sent this to me as part of her notes about George’s land purchases (1986). Just click on the photo and it will open up so you can read it. She mentions three patents and one deed.

George's Land - Miriam's Notes

The Logsleds and Snowmobiles book published in 1973 by the town of Pine River for the Bicentennial gives these descriptions of the land holdings on page 105 at the bottom of the 1st column and top of the 2nd.

In 1876, he moved his establishment to higher ground and started purchasing land at the intersection of four townships: 137N-29W (Wilson), 137N-30W (Walden), 138N-29W (Barclay), and 138N-30W (Pine River). From this site grew the village. Appropriately, this largest settlement along the river eventually took the name of the river and became “Pine River.” (Logsleds to Snowmobiles, page 1.)

…Barclay’s land purchases may have been formally registered as early as 1875 and definitely by 1876; however, the abstract indicates that the first purchase of the NW1/4 of the NW1/4 of Section 6, Township 137, Range 29 (Wilson Township) was not recorded as purchased until July 20, 1878, and the patent not received from the federal government until 1879. On May 15, 1883, he purchased according to record the NE1/4 of the NW1/4 of Section 6, Township 137, Range 29, from the federal government. (Logsleds to Snowmobiles, page 105).

The final 80 acre purchase of the SE1/4 and the SW1/4 (Lot 7) of the SW1/4 of Section 31, Township 138, Range 29 (Barclay Township) was bought on June 7, 1883 from the Northern Pacific Railway Company for $329.36. (Logsleds to Snowmobiles, page 105).

I was doing my usual poking around the internet and found that Cass County government has the 2009 Land Atlas & Plat Book for Cass County, Minnesota up for searching. I own the 2005 published version. Here is that link: http://www.co.cass.mn.us/platbook/platbook_web.html You can click on various townships and cities in Cass County and pull up great maps in today’s world.

The online version does not seem to have the “Information About Land Descriptions” that appears on pages 8 – 10 in the 2005 published version? It is very important to understand how to read the land descriptions. The National Atlas has this link to an explanation of the public land survey system: http://www.nationalatlas.gov/articles/boundaries/a_plss.html It might help to make the above information make more sense.

I also stumbled on the Heritage Group North website and discovered they were posting excerpts from the Logsleds to Snowmobiles book. I also noticed that they have referenced this blog! So in the spirit of sharing here is their link along with my thank you: http://www.pineriverhistory.org/5.html.

Things to Ponder

The Header Photo is San Francisco in 1999 when I visited there for about the 3rd time. I did not realize that my Barclay family was so involved with this city. Unfortunately the colors have gotten muted.

KELLER DESCENDANTS of John and Mary (Delano) Keller. Over the past year of 2014 and currently in 2015 I have been posting about the descendants of John and Mary on my Solomon Goss of Fearing Twp., In Ohio blog (see the link below). The Surnames are: Keller, Delano, Spracklin, Evertts, Helt, Pearl, WIntermute, Barr, Van Houten, Carson, Shaffer, Kees, Lacy, Riblet and much more. Cousins are sharing on that Solomon Goss Blog. More information has come to light about these families.

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This blog was started on March 10, 2010.

Going to take the Scottish Class.

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